Posted By:
Ted ZanidakisGIL
Gerry Dvorak was a very close personal friend of mine. I met him at a small NJ
show back in 1982. There is a very nice article written about Gerry in VCBC. It
is in the Dec. 1999 issue (#21). If anyone is interested I still have a few copies.
Gerry was a very gracious man and a true artist. In 1952 Topps contracred him
(and other artists) to paint pictures of BB players for their 1953 set. Gerry recalls
he was given photos of approx. 90 ML players to paint and Topps printed most
of them.
Mickey Mantle commissioned Gerry to paint some of Mickey's favorite BB Stars
for his Restaurant in NYC. Gerry called me back about 1990 and asked me for....
"a really big favor". Mantle wanted Gerry to to do a large painting of his 1952 Topps
card. Gerry knew I had one and asked me if he could borrow it for several weeks
to do the painting. Although, we were great friends, he felt very awkward about this
request and offered to give me a security deposit on this card. I drove to his house
and lent him my 52T Mantle and simply told him to call me when the painting was
completed.
Gerry was truely a great person and this story is meant to reflect exactly that.